Canberra Raiders 2025 NRL season scouting report: Best 17, every player’s contract status, rookie watch
Will a void of experience in their player roster hurt Ricky Stuart’s youthful Raiders in 2025? FATIMA KDOUH breaks down Canberra’s best 17, issues facing the club, rookies to watch and more in our Raiders deep dive.
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There’s green, and then there’s green.
Somehow an already young Raiders roster got younger for 2025, growing their collection of NSW under-19s representatives from a couple of years ago to six.
How quickly those shoots, led by highly-rated halfback Ethan Sanders, can develop and just might make the difference to Canberra making an expected run at a finals spot.
Fatima Kdouh pores over just what long-time coach Ricky Stuart has to do to get the Raiders back into finals contention.
Free agency wrap & rating
Ricky Stuart has heralded in a youth policy and is going all in. The Raiders have historically struggled in the marquee market to land a big money recruit, recently missing out on David Fifita. The solution? Stuart has poached some of the game’s brightest youngsters both locally and abroad. The club has picked up three of the NRL’s promising rookies in Ethan Sanders, Savelio Tamale and Myles Martin. The young trio, who played in the same NSW Blues under 19s side as Ethan Strange, Chevy Stewart and Jake Clydsdale in 2023, are unlikely to snag round one spots but are obviously the building blocks of Canberra’s roster for years to come.
Sanders, 19, is being groomed as Jamal Fogarty’s replacement from 2026 and by all accounts has seriously impressed Stuart in the short time he has been in the nation’s capital. Former Warrington youngster Matty Nicholson, 21, arrived in Canberra with some big wraps. He was a fixture in the back row under Sam Burgess at the Wolves and is poised to have an immediate impact on the Raiders pack, following in the footsteps of fellow Englishman Elliott Whitehead and John Bateman.
Rating: B+
Coach status & safety rating
Stuart has managed a luxury other NRL coaches can only dream of – job security. Only a wooden spoon, maybe even more than one, will be a slump bad enough for Stuart’s job to face any threat.
Having re-signed until the end of 2029, Stuart will need to turn his youth strategy into on-field success. He deserves credit for keeping the Raiders in the finals hunt in 2024 with one of the less-fancied rosters in the competition. He’ll face the same challenge in 2025, trying to squeeze the most out of a young roster with almost half of the top 30 aged 23 and under.
While the Raiders have not been a title threat since the club’s last grand final appearance in 2019, Stuart’s worst finish in the last five years at the helm is 10th on the ladder.
Safety rating: A
Likely debutant(s)
Forward Myles Martin is the only youngster from coach Ricky Stuart’s rookie recruitment spree who is yet to make his NRL debut. The former Knights SG Ball (under-19s) and Jersey Flegg (under-21s) captain only managed a handful of games in NSW Cup last year due to a leg injury. He’ll spend more time in reserve grade but has been signed to the top 30 squad and is expected to come into selection calculations in the latter half of the 2025 season.
At 193cm and 106kg, Martin is a hard working but mobile lock forward. He’ll also spend time as a front-row understudy to Joe Tapine and Josh Papalii, who will retire at season’s end.
With 47 English Super League games under his belt, new recruit Matty Nicholson will be gunning for a round-one berth. He’s in the running to replace Elliot Whitehead in the back row, but that spot is likely to go to Zac Hosking, with Hudson Young on the other edge. It leaves the former for the Warrington Wolves forward in a summer battle to earn a bench spot for the season opener against New Zealand in Las Vegas.
Who takes the next step
Kaeo Weekes played at fullback, five-eighth and halfback last season but, with Jordan Rapana’s departure, he has a chance to cement the No.1 jumper ahead of Chevy Stewart – who has long been seen as Canberra’s long-term plan at the back. Weekes was electric for the Prime Minister’s XIII at fullback with his speed and power on full display in the two-try performance. Weekes has always been earmarked for big things but hasn’t locked down a position since making his NRL debut in 2022, and has instead been shuffled through the spine. Given Canberra’s attacking woes in 2024, the addition of Weekes as a permanent fixture at the back can give the Raiders a x-factor in the spine. His playmaking ability coupled with his explosive speed off the mark can create plenty of headaches for opposition defences. Weekes has the talent to live up to the hype that surrounded him coming through the ranks and next season is shaping as the perfect opportunity to step-up and claim his place among the game’s best young players.
The three burning issues
EXPERIENCE VOID
The exits of Rapana and Whitehead have seen a massive 601 games of first grade football walk out the door – that loss comes after losing Jack Wighton defected to South Sydney and 300-gamer Jarrod Croker retired the year before. Rapana and Whitehead were more than just experienced campaigners, the veterans were also the heart and soul of Stuart’s outfit in recent years. They defined Canberra’s DNA under Stuart as tough and tenacious competitors that were never afraid of the niggle. So not only do the Raiders lose their experience but a gritty edge that isn’t always easy to replace.
COREY HORSBURGH
Stuart and Corey Horsburgh have seemingly smoked the peace pipe at the nation’s capital. But how long will the ceasefire last? Horsburgh and Stuart did not talk for almost a year after the coach told the former Origin forward he would start 2024 in reserve grade, right after penning a three-year extension. Horsburgh almost defected to the Tigers before his first grade banishment ended with selection in the final rounds of the season. Horsburgh admitted both he and Stuart are “stubborn”, making for a delicate truce that can easily come undone. Worse still, friction and falling out between players and their coach have a knack of playing out in the media. It’s a distraction Stuart, who is in the process of rebuilding his roster, can do without.
ATTACK
Canberra averaged less than 20 points per game last season with only the Tigers finishing with less points in 2024. Canberra ended 2024 as the team with the least linebreaks (94), linebreak assists (61), line engagements (526) and the equal least tries (82) alongside the Tigers. Toughness and defence has always been a focus for Stuart but the coach must improve his side’s attack if the Raiders are going to be a genuine finals hope rather than one that is one the fringes of a top eight spot. Before halfback Jamal Fogarty suffered a serious biceps injury in round 7, the Raiders averaged almost 25 points per game. Fogarty’s input will be even more crucial in 2025 with Kaeo Weekes, 22, coming in at fullback alongside Ethan Strange at five-eighth, adding more inexperience to the spine.
Crystal ball
A finals berth will be an over achievement for the Raiders in 2025. Stuart has a side boasting youth and energy at his disposal but the key for a successful year will be the coach’s ability to get his side to consistency and effort week in week out, which with a young side won’t be an easy feat. Not many will give the Raiders a hope in 2025 but Stuart thrives off a siege mentality and that should be enough to keep Canberra out of the bottom four.
2025 odds
Winners: $51
Minor premiership: $51
Top 4: $11
Top 8: $3.75
Most losses: $81
Originally published as Canberra Raiders 2025 NRL season scouting report: Best 17, every player’s contract status, rookie watch
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